The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh announced Tuesday it is offering eligible faculty and staff a voluntary retirement buyout with a one-time payment equal to 50% of an employee's annual base salary.

UW-Oshkosh becomes the third campus within the UW System to offer buyouts in an effort to reduce its workforce in the face of state budget cuts. UW-Eau Claire was the first, followed last week by UW-Superior.

UW-Oshkosh expects about 100 employees would be eligible. It has set a goal of reducing its workforce by 80 within the next three years.(26)

Scott Walker responds to critics who say his plans punish jobless people

Speaking on the Charlie Sykes show this morning, Gov. Scott Walker offered two anecdotes in defense of his proposal to require people on unemployment benefits to do four job applications a week instead of two.

“We say four or more, and the reason I say that is because I hear from employers all the time who tell me how frustrating it is that they have jobs open because all too often they hear the mumbling of people who really just come in and want to get things signed off to continue to get their benefits," Walker said on 620 WTMJ.

He added: "That’s not what it’s for. It’s for people who are temporarily in a hard spot, to help them back up on their feet again until such time they can find work. So, we want to do everything in our power to encourage work.”

Walker said he laughed when the media and some on the left complained he was making it harder to get unemployment.

"I can still think in my own ears hearing my parents," Walker said. "If I was looking for work they’d tell me I should be out five days a week or anytime thereafter that a business was open that I could be looking for work. What we’re doing is not punishing."

Sykes also asked Walker about his decision to turn down federal money for expanding Medicaid health services. By instead moving some people onto health insurance through the federal health care law, wasn't that keeping those people dependent on the government, Sykes asked.

Walker said it's better than being dependent on Medicaid, in part because it costs the state so much. And he said it's easier under the federal health care law to transition into traditional private health insurance and off of the government's help.

About Dave Umhoefer

Dave Umhoefer covers local politics and government as part of the PolitiFact Wisconsin and Watchdog teams. His investigation into pension padding by Milwaukee County employees won a 2008 Pulitzer Prize.